Chapter Two: Book of the Dead

Ash woke up even groggier and in more agony than last time.

The first thing she realized on regaining consciousness (again) was that she had been taken into the cabin and settled on a couch.

And then there was the black-furred cat with green eyes sitting on her chest.

"Oh, good – you're finally awake," it spoke.

Ash groaned. "I'm still dreamin', ain't I?"

"And what makes you think that?"

"'Cause I'm talkin' to a freakin' cat!"

"The name's Thackery…Thackery Binx. And you're lucky to be alive right now."

Ash realized she didn't have much feeling in her right hand; lifting it close to her face, she was reminded of her earlier incident while staring at the treated and bandaged stump that used to be her hand.

"Quite the butchering you've done on that," Binx observed. "But desperate times call for desperate measures, I suppose."

Ash shot up from the couch, forcing Binx to climb off with a loud screech.

"A little warning next time," he demanded.

She was able to stand for a little while before she was forced back down on the couch, her dizziness overwhelming her.

The door to the adjacent room opened.

Out stepped a young gentleman in a long coat and glasses; he also had six fingers on each hand. "Ah, you're awake," he said of Ash. "Feeling any better?"

"I feel like I'm about to puke my guts out," Ash responded.

"I'm afraid that's expected when a person cuts off their own hand," Binx said.

"I see you've met Mr. Binx," the twelve-fingered man noted.

Ash snickered at how casual he spoke of the feline. "So the cat talkin' ain't part of my deliria? Man, I wish this were a dream…like the last one."

"Sorry, it's all very real," the twelve-fingered man stated.

He revealed an old mason jar; inside of it was Ash's severed, living hand feistily squirming, demanding for itself to be released.

"A dark force got into it," the man told her. "Nearly would have spread to the rest of your body, had you not severed it before then. I take total blame for it all, of course. I read from the book."

"When you shouldn't have," Binx scolded. "I warned you of its power, Ford!"

"What book?" Ash asked out of curiosity (she was already mixed up in this craziness as it was).

"The Necronomicon Ex-Mortis," Binx answered. "Roughly translated as 'The Book of the Dead'."

"You shouldn't have read from it," shouted a voice from the next room where Ford emerged.

"Thank you, Glossaryck," Ford irritably shouted back. "The cat already told me!"

"Who is that?" Ash questioned. "How many bunkmates you got in this cabin?"

Rather than tell her, Ford showed her.

He led Ash to his private study where she saw a book bound in human flesh with a demonic-looking face on the cover. She assumed this to be the Necronomicon Ford talked about, sitting on his desktop.

And sitting on the Necronomicon itself was a gnomish sprite with blue skin and a white beard.

"Meet Glossaryck," Ford introduced the sprite.

Just when Ash thought she was overwhelmed enough by all the weirdness…

"I once inhabited another book entirely before this one," Glossaryck said. "A book of spells meant to assist a special princess and her unique abilities. Then it got destroyed, and me along with it. I was trapped in purgatory…until I found a new home inside the Necronomicon. In retrospect, it was like moving out of a five-star hotel and into a roach-infested apartment complex! But you wanna know what I despise most out of all this? That I had to be moved out of time from 2017 all the way back to 1981! Oh, how I miss all the wonders of the 21st century…like Wi-Fi connection and Game of Thrones!"

What Glossaryck saw misery in made Ford as giddy as a schoolboy.

"Glossaryck's not just from another dimension – he's from another time altogether," Ford elated. "Isn't that incredible?!"

"Yeah, it's groovy," Ash passively remarked. "Look, all I want is to get my car fixed and get my butt away from all this!"

"There's no way out," Ford said. "At least not yet."

He brought Ash and Glossaryck down to his underground laboratory, one floor below his private study. There, a large, bizarre machine was housed.

"This is my universe portal," Ford divulged. "It has the power of opening a gateway to infinite worlds, and I intend to use its purpose to escape the nightmare that the Necronomicon has trapped us in. Start somewhere new, if possible. My whole life in this town I've spent studying its mysteries. I'll probably never see my brother Stanley ever again – which would probably be an improvement."

As Ford lamented, Ash – creeped out from so much weirdness – left the area.

The only one to have noticed this was Glossaryck.

"And there she goes," he indicated to Ford.

Ford turned in time to see Ash climb back upstairs, desperately calling her back, "No! Don't leave! It's not safe!"

Suddenly, he was stopped, feeling himself losing control of his mind and body.

"No…NO! NOT AGAIN!" he cried – his eyes glowing and becoming demonic.

Glossaryck casually looked on, knowing of the entity that began to take possession over Ford Pines.

"Hello again, Cipher."